Re: Re: cellphones on planes

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: George Dyson <gdyson () gmail com>
Date: March 25, 2007 1:37:21 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Re: cellphones on planes

No one would seek to ban *conversations* on planes, trains, or in  
restaurants. What makes other people's cell phone conversations so  
objectionable is that you only hear *one* side of the conversation.  
Human beings are highly adapted--from caves to cocktail parties--to  
automatically filter out conversations that we are not part of. But  
when you hear only one side of a conversation, it immediately  
distracts your attention; you are constantly forced to keep parsing  
the words and figure out "Is that person talking to me?" That's what  
makes them so irritating. If not banned altogether, cellphones should  
only be allowed in speaker phone mode. Of course, this would also  
remind users that their conversations are not as private as it seems  
when you are holding the phone up to your own ear alone.

G


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